Friday, December 1, 2017

pinkfresh studio december blog hop

And just like that, it's December! Can you believe that?! What better way to kick off the last month of 2017 than with a holiday blog hop? Join me and the rest of the gals from the Pinkfresh Studio Cards Team as we share some festive greetings. As always, there will be a giveaway you don't want to miss out on, so be sure to leave comments along the way. I'll have a few more details on that at the end of this post.

You most likely arrived here from Amy Tsuruta's blog--she has some absolutely adorable cards over there! (And isn't she one of the kindest, most supportive cardmakers out there?) If you've arrived from a different spot and want to know what this hop is all about, head to the Pinkfresh Studio blog where you'll find details and a complete tour list with links.

I've got some quick ones for you; they were so quick, in fact, that I made 3 because I felt guilty just sharing 2! The first one took me the longest to make because I did a bit of die cutting. I only used items from the December Days collection, including the stamp and die set.

You can see I die cut the pretty branches and then stamped them in shades of green. They're arranged around a bird and branch puffy sticker, which was the catalyst for this design idea.

I layered a bit of tulle and gold metallic thread under the 'Sparkle' tag, and then applied the sticker and stamped branches. All 3 of my cards today measure 4" x 4" (my current favorite size), and I allowed some of the branches that I die cut to hang over the edges.

The second card was so easy! I don't know about you, but during the holidays, I love it when my cards come together in minutes. This one is also nice because it's not too thick or bulky so it can be mailed without the addition of extra postage.

I started by stamping a repeat pattern of little black trees right on my card base. You can find the tree stamp in the Festive Llama set. Christmas trees are so on trend this year, have you noticed? And this little tree is so perfect for creating an easy background like this.

I then put together a cluster of puffy sticker trees from December Days, and chose a die cut I could use as my sentiment. There was room in the top 'box' to stamp something so I went with "JOY" from the Simple Joy stamp set. It's not overpowering, and the typography complements the style of the die cut, as well as the modern, minimal feel of the card.

I added a panel of white lace to the bottom half of the card for texture. The card contents are pretty flat but the addition of the lace kicks the interest level up a notch.

My last card is just fun, though the details were sadly difficult to capture on camera. I chose bright, nontraditional holiday colors for this one. While I'm kind of going with a traditional color palette in terms of personal style this year, I sometimes can't help but break the mold and just go a little unexpected.

I took the dotted garland stamp from Joy & Cheer and turned it into string from which I hung a DD foil die cut ornament. (I kind of love it!) I adhered the bulb with a foam dot for depth, since the rest of the card is fairly one-dimensional.

In lime green ink, I stamped "falala" from the Festive Llama set. I taped off the "LLAMA" part of the sentiment since there are none of them in sight on this card! The brushed lettering of the "falala" is just the sort of carefree feeling that I want this card to invoke, though, so the extra step to mask the unwanted word was definitely worth it (and really wasn't all that time-consuming to do anyhow).

Taking a couple cute snowflakes from the Merry & Bright set, I stamped them all over the rest of the card in orange. Why not orange?! Just as I was finishing up, I decided I'd add a few small white pom-poms to the card for some much needed ... you guessed it, texture! They look so cute in person, but I had a difficult time capturing the cuteness due to the white-on-white nature of them. You'll just have to believe me when I tell you that they make a cute card way cuter!

Thank you so much for stopping by today. You're off to Elena Roussakis's blog now and she never, ever disappoints!

Be sure to comment at each blog in order to be eligible to win the holiday stamps and dies during the giveaway. Comments will close at 11:59pm CST on Friday, December 8, 2017. The winner will be randomly selected and will be announced Monday, December 11, on the Pinkfresh Studio blog. Good luck!

What great cards you did! Never thought to make backgrounds with some of the stamps. They are refreshing cards. Thanks for sharing your ideas and giving us a chance to win the new stamps. Have a great day!

Oh my Im in love with you style. Your cards are magical and there is something for everyone. I love the idea of adding the pom poms to the last card and I also favor cards made with nontraditional colors tfs.

Your cards are so darn cute Rebecca. Love the fun nature of the cards and adding the lace on the 2nd one really makes the card pop. Thanks for sharing and I hope you have a wonderful weekend. #kindnessmatters

Oh wow, you definitely have an eye for texture. I love all the tulle and lace and pompoms that help brighten the background without taking over your adorable focal points. Also, that first little bird looks perfectly in place in the middle of those bright trees! So cute. Thanks for sharing!